I’m not presenting all this to get down on the goyim. What they do is their business. Rather, this concise history of January 1st should make Jews think twice before they celebrate New Year’s and take part in its heathen festivities. With such a rich and wonderful heritage as ours, why copy the impostors Why make drunken slobs out of ourselves when we are sons of the King? Why take a shiksa or two home from the bar? We have the real Rosh Hashanah and the Torah of truth. Why join the drunken countdown celebrating the circumcision of Jeezeus? To me, it doesn’t make any sense.

About the Author:Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Creativity and Jewish Culture for his novel "Tevye in the Promised Land." For the past several years, he has written a popular and controversial blog at Arutz 7. A wide selection of his books are available at Amazon.
The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of The Jewish Press

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Jesus wasn't born on December 25 and whatever anyone thinks about Christianity – there is no need to be insulting – Jezeus? Yeshu? This is no way to win friends – Christians are often your strongest supporters!

The Eastern Orthodox Church will do that, celebrate the circumcision of Jesus. Even though not a single Christian church practices ritual circumcision. Also, the start of Sunday, will begin as the sun goes down on Saturday night. Just like the Jewish Shabbat. So the long history of Anti-Semitism in Russia really does not justify itself. But the Eastern Orthodox Church of Bulgaria came out very strongly against the deportation of Jews during World War II. But the Eastern Orthodox churches are very strongly represented in Israel, so it is more than appropriate to wish the Eastern Orthodox Christians a Merry Christmas on January 7th.

The Lord hates unbalanced scales. The church, 'Christianity' has certainly done a very great deal to reinforce a totally negative picture of Yeshua. But there is something that must be asked because who Yeshua is, whether He is whom He claimed to be, is ultimately more than what Christians have done. The commandment says that noone should falsely accuse another. If Christians have been following Yeshua's teachings to the letter in what they have done and do then it will be found in His teaching. The anger of any Jewish person towards Jesus, given the conduct of so many Christian through the centuries, is utterly logical, but, is what they hve done truly been in accordance with His teaching? I am a gentile. I am part of a mostly gentile congregation who keep shabbat, and observe the biblical feasts. Our pastor's ministry is dedicated to teaching the church about it's pagan and anti Semitic past and we do not observe any of the pagan feasts. Let us learn together about the God of Israel. Let us teach those who are lost in the practice of the worship of Mithriasm, Saturn and other pagan gods, the beauty of Gods mitzvot. It is Yeshua who led us to this revelation.

"the gentiles spend their make-believe New Year’s getting smashed and stoned out of their minds, puking up their guts, and bedding down with anyone within reach, while imbibing whatever weeds and chemicals they can to forget about God." What a wild generaisation! When we make wild generalisations about a whole people, it's called prejudice, with specific names like racism, sexism, homophobia – and antisemitism. If you don't want it done to you, don't do it to others.

This is bunk! What are you, a refugee from the Taliban? Every day of the calendar has a Catholic saint attached to it. No one who celebrates New Year's Eve celebrates this "Sylvester" of yours. This is nothing more than a cheap shot attempt to make a secular holiday appear Christian. There are two calendars used by many cultures, one solar and one lunar. Without a solar calendar, Jewish holidays would float all around the year instead of being tied to specific seasons. Both calendars are needed and have their uses. Most civilizations that recognized a solar year put the New Year at either a Solstice or Equinox (the latter is the real reason for the New Year's date of March 25). The Romans attached it to the Winter Solstice, then added a week between the Solstice and New Year's so people would have an additional week off from work. The Gregorian calendar reform moved the Winter Solstice from Dec. 25 to Dec. 21, resulting in an 11-day gap between the Solstice and New Year's. Learn some history and some astronomy before posting articles so full of ignorance and nonsense.

P Edward Murray Sorry if I've offended you. I hate the idea of people who don't know what they are talking about publishing stuff like this the same way I can't stand candidates who say a woman cannot get pregnant from being raped. This is why I consider myself spiritual but not religious. And I wish you well too. Hope we'll stay friends.

Celebrate Jan 1 as circumcision of Jezsus is a hoax.
When was Jezsus born?

A. Popular myth puts his birth on December 25th in the year 1 C.E.

B. The New Testament gives no date or year for Jezsus' birth. The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the baptism of an adult Jezsus. This suggests that the earliest Xtians lacked interest in or knowledge of Jezsus' birthdate.

C. The year of Jezsus birth was determined by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk, “abbot of a Roman monastery. His calculation went as follows:

a. In the Roman, pre-Xtian era, years were counted from ab urbe condita (“the founding of the City” [Rome]). Thus 1 AUC signifies the year Rome was founded, 5 AUC signifies the 5th year of Rome’s reign, etc.

b. Dionysius received a tradition that the Roman emperor Augustus reigned 43 years, and was followed by the emperor Tiberius.

c. Luke 3:1,23 indicates that when turned 30 years old, it was the 15th year of Tiberius reign.

d. If Jezsus was 30 years old in Tiberius’ reign, then he lived 15 years under Augustus (placing Jezsus birth in Augustus’ 28th year of reign).

f. However, Luke 1:5 places Jezsus' birth in the days of Herod, and Herod died in 750 AUC – four years before the year in which Dionysius places Jezsus birth.

D. Joseph A. Fitzmyer – Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America, member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and former president of the Catholic Biblical Association – writing in the Catholic Church’s official commentary on the New Testament[1], writes about the date of Jezsus' birth, “Though the year [of Jezsus birth is not reckoned with certainty, the birth did not occur in AD 1. The Xtian era, supposed to have its starting point in the year of Jezsus birth, is based on a miscalculation introduced ca. 533 by Dionysius Exiguus.”.

E. The DePascha Computus, an anonymous document believed to have been written in North Africa around 243 CE, placed Jezsus birth on March 28. Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought Jezsus was born on November 18. Based on historical records, Fitzmyer guesses that Jezsus birth occurred on September 11, 3 BCE.

The depravity of mankind and the results of it's offenses…It's a miracle that there are any of us left to contemplate the belly buttons of G-d's nurturing grace and design (the spiritual and physical source) for sustaining and supporting His gift of life imprinted on each of us which is His testimony of divine provision, love and care and purpose for all.

Assuming the birth of Jesus was December 25, wouldn't the Bris had been January 2? Interestingly enough, the Morocco World News makes a similar connection…hmm. ( http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/12/72314/the-new-year-celebration-in-morocco-2/ ) Yes, Rosh Hashana is the head of our spiritual year. The New Year is celebrated worldwide by all that use the calendar. One has nothing to do with the other indeed. Nonetheless Happy New Year!

A Christian once told me that the date for Christmas was set at December 25th because his cousin John the Baptist was 6 months older. (Their mothers, Mary and I think Elizabeth were cousins actually.) I remember from the time I was a student in Montreal that St-Jean Baptiste Day was June 24th. Who cares anyway?